Little Battousai
by Chryose
Summary: A tale from the Meji era


Long ago, in the time of swordsmanship, in old Japan, the world was a very different place. Back in the 18th century, men wandered the lands in search of someone to kill. It meant kill or be killed to live by the sword, and only the strongest survived.  
  
Ting! That sound is all too familiar to me. Back when killing was as common as theft, and men lived by their swords, it was the time of Hitokiri Battousai.the manslayer.  
  
I awoke with a sudden jolt, somewhere in the distance, I heard leaves rustle, someone was watching me. "Who's there!?" No answer. I stood up, ready for anything. I clutched my sword. Suddenly, the leaves rustled again. I know where it came from this time. I ran there. "Don't hurt me!" a small voice squeaked. It was just a little boy. "What's your name kid?" I said. "Shintah". "Well Shintah, what are you doing spying on me?" "I saw you had a sword, you must be a swordsman!" "Wait, hold on kid, how do you know I just didn't take this sword from a swordsman?" "You couldn't have! Swordsmen are invincible!" "What makes you say that?" "Well, I've heard stories about unbeatable men, that are swordsmen. One day I want to become a swordsman, so I can one day be strong like my father was." "That's nice kid, but you shouldn't be sneaking up on people like that. Go home." Funny kid. I suddenly became aware of my surroundings. It was pitch black when I wandered here last night, and I was tired so I just slept under the tree over there. It appeared that I was on a dirt road surrounded by trees, leading down to a small town. I needed something to eat, I might as well try this town for what it has. There's a woman walking down the road towards me yelling something. "Shintah! Where are you Shintah!?" Maybe I could ask her to the nearest well. "Excuse me ma'am, where could I find a drinking well, or the nearest market?" I asked the woman. "Do I know you? I'm looking for my son, have you seen him?" "Yes, he was spying on me, I told him to go home" "Thank you then. What's your name if I might ask?" "Himura Kenshin" I said. "Thank you, that boy is going to be in trouble! He is always running off" I walked into town, to find it was a nice pleasant town. I headed towards the market to buy some food for myself. "Hey, stop him! He's stealing my food!" Not as peaceful anymore. "Hey! Stop!" I ran at him, with my years of training and mastering the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style, I had obtained god-like speed. He never saw me coming. At lighting speed I drew my reverse-blade sword and struck him. It was as easy as that. After I defeated him I retrieved the stolen items and took them back to the storeowner. Luckily he gave me free food in return for my deed. Maybe doing good things pays off after all.  
  
After I had finished my meal it was about 1 o'clock. Time to leave. As I was heading out of town I heard behind me the voice of a little boy calling to me. I turned to see that is was that boy, Shintah. "Wait, mister swordsman! Can you teach me to be as strong as you?" How did he know I was strong? "What makes you think I am strong?" "Well I saw your fight against that robber, and you moved incredibly fast. Only someone really strong could move like that" "Look kid, I'm leaving town right now, I'm a wanderer, so I cannot stay and teach you" I could see the look of disappointment appear on his face as I said this, but what could I do? I'm rurouni swordsman, I do not stay to teach private lessons! Just then I heard a scream from behind me. "Ahhhh! Let me go!" It was the lady that was looking for Shintah before, his mother. "Mother! I'm coming!" "No Shintah, this looks dangerous, let me handle it" I did not know it at the time, but those words may have changed my life as a wanderer forever. "Hey! Let her go!" I yelled at the second robber in one day. What kind of town was this? "Why don't you just try and stop me? Heheheh" "You have just sealed your fate robber! My friend here is really strong! He is gonna beat you up!" Shintah said. I wasn't going to be a lenient with this robber as I was with the previous one, this one was committing a far more serious crime. He was threatening to take a life. He had to pay for that. I ran at him again using the deadly arts of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style to aid me in my speed. The last thing he would see was my face as I struck him with my sword, cracking his head open. I drew my blade, and he tasted my sword. I was careful not to injure Shintah's mother, but precise enough to strike the robber straight across the face. It all happened in slow motion, I could hear that sound I had once loved, when his nose was shattered, I heard the sound, the sound of pain. I looked at Shintah's mother, and spoke. "A lot of robbers here, you should be more careful. Good bye." "Wait! You just saved me, don't you even want to know my name?" "No, I don't" "But you saved me! I have to pay you back! I can't let you walk away, you're staying the night at my house, and I will have no arguments!" "No, I'm not..." Whack! She punched me!! "Be quiet! You're coming with us!" Fine, I guess it can't hurt for me to stay for a while right? We started walking back to town, but I let Shintah's mother walk ahead so I could talk to him. "Your mother is quite a scary woman, you know that?" "Ha, I know"  
  
"Kenshin! Wake up, its time for you to start training me!" it was the break of dawn, and this kid was up already? He doesn't quit either. "I already told you, I'm not a teacher" "I know you told me, but I know you were just kidding" "I wasn't kidding! Now go back to sleep kid, it's too early" "Swordsmen don't sleep in! They are up at the crack of dawn ready to defend their homes!" "This isn't my home kid, I'm just passing through. I'm just doing your mother a favor by staying here, nothing more" What's wrong with this kid? "No! I want to become strong one day, and you're going to help me do it! You got that? If you don't, maybe I need to show you what I am capable of" "What are you going to do? You're just a kid, stop wasting my time" This kid is showing some potential maybe someday I will come back, and bestow my skills upon him to make him the 15th descendant of the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style.maybe.  
  
Later that morning I was readying to leave when Shintah's mother approached me. "Are you leaving so soon? We will see you off" "No, that is not needed" "Fine, but before you go, my name is.Kaoru" "Well Kaoru, goodbye" "Goodbye Kenshin"  
  
10 Years later  
  
A lot has happened since that day when I left the only people to offer me a bed to stay in. I had decided what to do. Before I get too old I was determined to pass on the secrets of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu to a worthy recipient, Shintah maybe be that person.  
  
After a few weeks of travel without much to tell about I had made it back to Kanto, where Shintah and Kaoru, unknowingly await my arrival. I found my way back to where Shintah and Kaoru had lived, to find a young man, Shintah. "Hello, I am looking for Shintah, is he here" I said. "That is me" the young man replied. "Do you still wish to become a strong swordsman?" "Yes I do, but I have also practiced since you left, hoping you would return one day" What? He remembers me? "So you remember me?" "How could I forget the second strongest man to ever come to this village?"  
  
"Second strongest? Was there another swordsman through here before?" "Yes, I tried to stop him, but my swordsmanship was no match for his. I want to become strong to avenge my mother's death. I will find him again one day. And when that day comes, he will know fear." "I will pass on my style of fighting to you, if you can land one hit on me. You can use whatever weapon you choose, I will use nothing" "That's fine with me! Prepare yourself! I have become stronger than the boy I once was!" I stood there as he reached for his wooden sword, he rushed at me, and he was slower than I expected him to be. He took one swoop at me, but it was easily dodged. What? I hadn't expected it but he hit me! He used the first strike as a decoy, and to make me believe he was slower than he really was, and at the same time hiding his real skill from me. He had struck me in the side of my stomach, lightly though, he was holding back from me, I just know it. "I hit you! Now you have to teach me! Hahaha!" "Yes you did hit me, you also hid your skill from me. Very clever" "I knew you were very strong and using all of my skill right from the beginning would make you more aware, but I intentionally made myself slow, so you would be slightly off guard, and it worked!" He was pleased with himself at what he could do, too pleased, I had to humble him if he was going to learn from me. Without a weapon in hand I ran at him, took his weapon out of his hand and stood there, with the tip of his sword placed directly in front of his neck, so close he could feel the wooden tips presence. "What are you doing? Are you going to kill me?" "No, I can't let you go around thinking you could beat me, not if you had any intention of learning my skills. Tomorrow we will begin your training, you are now my disciple. I have found a student, consider yourself fortunate." From then on I trained him night and day, constantly testing his limits. He was flourishing under my tutelage. He truly was capable of handling the painfully impossible moves of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style. He had to perfect them, like I had done once, someday he will become even more than a master, someday he might be worthy of the title.Battousai.  
  
Years passed and little Shintah, wasn't so little anymore. He was a very powerful swordsman, worth of a swordsman name. "Shintah, I need to talk to you. You have become a powerful swordsman like you always had dreamed. But now that you are this, you can no longer use the childish name Shintah, from now on you are Kenji" "Ken-ji." "I have taught you all I know. Now go and avenge your mother!" "I have one more thing to ask of you Kenshin, will you help me find my mother's killer?" "As a final wish to my pupil, I will"  
  
After packing up his belongings, he was ready to leave the town he had always known, and venture out into the world as a rurouni. We set off the next day, he had to say goodbye to all he had ever known and loved. "Kenji, what do you remember about the man that appeared in town and took your mother's life?" "What I do remember is this, he was a man called Aoshi Makato. He had black hair, and when he came to town, he was asking for you" "Me? Why?" "I don't know, but he referred to you as Himura Battousai. And he claimed you knew him from the past, he said he will never forgive you for Tomoe. What did he mean by that?" "Nothing that you need to know of Kenji. Now let's go, it helps us no more to stay here longer" "Alright" So we set off, in search of the man that killed Kenji's mother, Aoshi Makato. I knew that name all too well. Back during the revolution when murders were an everyday thing, after I had learned what I could from my former master, I defied him and left the dojo forever. I met a woman that lived in a village near my master's dojo, she took me in, at the time I was only 17, eventually I developed feelings for this woman, and we got married. But her brother had heard rumors of my skill and endless murders I had committed, and he decided that Himura Battousai was not worthy of his little sister. Her name was Tomoe Makato. One day he took it upon himself to drive me out of town forever, he was very powerful and about the same age as me too, the fight drew on for 20 minutes, suddenly she appeared to try and stop the fight. I thought this was my chance to finish it, so I prepared for my most powerful move, Ryu Tsui Sen. It involved jumping very fast above the victim and coming down with full force to attack. Just as I was executing it Tomoe had run in front of Aoshi to protect him, I didn't see it, perhaps I was blinded by rage, or the thought of a new kill. As I came down to attack she absorbed the entire attack, my sword cut cleanly right through her, from her shoulder straight down to her legs. The blood spilled everywhere, onto my clothes, and staining my sword forever. From that time on he has been hunting me trying to kill me for what I have done. From then on, I became a wanderer.  
  
So he has finally caught up to me, but taken his rage out on Kaoru. He had no right to involve anyone in our fight, but maybe it wasn't my fight anymore, because now Kenji is looking for him. The hunter has become the hunted.  
  
We came upon another town, Hanaro. We asked the locals if they had seen such a man in the description we gave. They had told us he passed by there a few days before. We had to hurry then, we had no time to stop in this little town, we had to go through the night. The next morning we were in a very dense forest, we had to be on our toes, he could attack anytime. "Kenji, be careful now, this man you are hunting he was very powerful a long time ago, not doubt his skill has grown very much since then" "Are you sure he is that powerful Kenshin?" "Yes, I'm not even sure if we can win." After I said that, we did not talk for a long time, but a noise behind us broke the silence. Even before I turned to see who was there I knew, it was Aoshi. I turned to see, but nothing was there, suddenly another noise came from behind us, the direction we were just facing. He was surrounding us. "Kenji! Be ready, it's Aoshi" the noises now were coming from every direction, he was just playing. Then we heard his voice booming everywhere "Hahahaha! So it's actually you, Himura Kenshin, and who's this? Your apprentice? He will have to go to! Hahaha!" "Aoshi!" I yelled, "Come out and fight us!" "Very well, Battousai" He appeared out of nowhere, right in front of me, his blade wasn't drawn, but he seemed ready for anything. "So we meet again Aoshi, you killed my mother and I am here to avenge her!"  
  
"Prepare yourself Aoshi!" "No Kenji! Stop!" But I was too late he wasn't listening to me, his master anymore. All he had in mind was how he was going to kill Aoshi. But I'm not so sure he can beat him, Aoshi looks unusually confident. Then Kenshin raged at Aoshi with a sloppy technique, he was too blinded by rage to focus properly. Damn! It thought I had trained him better than this! But I can't interfere, this was his fight, and his responsibility to finish it. No matter what the outcome. I knew right then that Aoshi could have easily killed Kenji when he used that sloppy technique, but he didn't. He wanted to have fun first. Aoshi was dodging every one of Kenji's attacks with ease, he was enjoying this very much, but it only made Kenji angrier. "Kenji! If you ever hope to beat Aoshi you cannot fight with rage in your heart! If I have taught you anything it should be that!" It was useless what I had just said was a waste of breath, because Kenshin could no longer hear me, he had become too clouded with anger. There was no way he could win. "Don't worry Battousai, as soon as I'm done with your pathetic student, I will have my revenge on you!" "This is boring, time to end it, say goodbye to your friend Battousai! Hahaha!" "Kenji watch out!" I don't know what happened but it seemed as though Kenji awoke from his anger and jumped away from Aoshi before he could attack. "I haven't been fighting you at seriously at all Aoshi, I was judging your technique and I believe I have seen what you can do. It's time to get serious with this fight. But before you die, I want you to choke on your own blood, and know that you have been beaten. I want the last thing for you to see is my blade slicing through your body like I had to see you do to my mother!!" So he had used the same trick on Aoshi, which he once used on me. Now I'll see what Kenji the 15th heir to the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu style of fighting can really do. "Hahaha! I knew I could expect more from a student of Kenshin, this is excellent. Maybe between the two of you I can be entertained a little bit!" They both lunged at each other with incredible speed, neither one greater than the other, maybe this is a fight that Kenji can win. The fighting ensued for 10 more minutes, neither one getting one hit in, both matching each other in speed and technique, then they both jumped away from each other, and both assumed the stances of their most powerful techniques. Kenji held his sword straight out with the blade facing downward, while Aoshi assumed a much more different stance, he had spread he feet apart and had his body lined up so it was pointing at Kenji. He held his sword straight out also, but his blade was facing up, and his free hand was held at the tip of the sword. I had recognized this stance, it was one of the Gatotsu stances, known for its ability to kill with one strike. That is the power of Gatotsu, to end the fight as soon as possible. Then like a flash of lightening they both took off at one and other. Kenji was going to use Ryu Tsui Sen, the move I had used to kill Aoshi's sister, my wife. As suddenly as they started it all ended, Aoshi somehow managed to dodge Kenji's attack, and struck his sword clean through Kenji's neck. He withdrew his sword and looked at me and laughed. "Heh, that wasn't even worth my time" Kenji was trying to speak but too much blood was pouring out of his neck, he was choking to death on his own blood. At that moment it was very apparent, that Kenshin was not going to live, not going to avenge his mother. Now I carried that burden, to avenge Kaoru for Kenji. "You're next Battousai" I didn't say anything, I was going to finish this, with one move, the one move I neglected to teach Kenshin, Kuzu Ryu Sen. It involved keeping the sword in its sheath, but drawing it at such incredible speed to decapitate the opponent in one slice. By keeping the sword in its sheath, it gives the sword more speed and power when the attack is executed, but this was also very dangerous because it left the user slightly off guard. We both went into our stances preparing to attack, he used the same stance he had used to kill Kenji, I saw no flaw in it, and I was not sure that I could beat his technique, but that's the life of a rurouni, you could die at any moment. The rustling of leaves in the wind set us both off, we both flew at each other, with god-like speed, he struck and nearly missed my neck, I drew my sword and using the backside of my sword, the sharp side, I cut his head off effortlessly. The fight was over, I had destroyed my rival Aoshi, but Kenji paid the ultimate price, but by dieing for his mother there was no way he could be dishonored. I quickly checked to see if Kenji was still alive, I don't know why I did it, maybe I was hoping against hope. But I already knew he was dead. I transported his body back to his hometown, that is where I paid for a proper funeral. Engraved on his cross was 'Kenji, swordsman by heart'.  
  
It is the way of the rurouni to not have any ties to anything in this world, to live by your sword. I no longer carry my reverse-blade sword, I buried it with Kenji, and I now carry the same sword I used during the revolution in Japan, one that has killed more than it ever should have. I am a wanderer, that is my life, nothing will change that. It is now again the time of Hitokiri Battousai.the manslayer. 


End file.
